Sophomore Liliana Dyck, a singer and sound artist, has taken many considerations involving her freedom from student debt to authority. Her passion falls into the fine arts category, setting her apart from someone aiming for a more conventional profession that requires a college degree.

“I think there’s a lot of opportunities now to be an independent artist. Personally, I want to do performances in addition to that, so that would set me back, but also there are so many places you can get internships now and all of the equipment and software is becoming readily available to the general public, so I think it would be more beneficial to have some real-life experience,” Dyck said.

In Dyck’s situation, attaining a college degree in sound engineering wouldn’t be worth the time and money. Not to mention, how it would compensate after she graduated.

“My worries would definitely just be debt because my career wouldn’t start off right away, most of the money would be spent on a career without a promise and an actual job after graduation,” Dyck said. 

Dyck reframes from the prospect of attending a fine arts-oriented college because her philosophy aligns with application and experience over outdated processes that would set her back on a field such as the music industry which changes so rapidly, that a four-year school wouldn’t be able to keep up with it.

“I’ve learned technology is progressing so quickly and that the college curriculum is behind the game at this point. Internships are the way to go.”

Although talent is difficult or if not, impossible to teach, Dyck agreed that if ACC decided to have a production and sound engineering class at the school, she would definitely sign up. She then predicted that the turn out would end up making it a popular class. 

“I think there’s a lot of independent artists everywhere, like a Soundcloud rapper guy, and all genres, really. So I think that would get a lot of interest, actually.”

Niche classes in high school would be helpful for students to experiment and take their passion seriously, but another factor that is critical for young artists is getting support from their family.

“My parents are super supportive with whatever I do and supportive of my music career, so that’s not an issue,” Dyck said.

As some may not have a similar situation, sophomore Kayla Johnson, has expectations from her family to go through college for something more substantial than an art degree.

“I think my mom would rather I get a business degree, which is smart, but there’s also ways to integrate artistic practices that go along with the job like marketing because it’s basically an umbrella because even graphic design can fall into that category,” Johnson said.

In a more ideal world, Johnson would be able to prove that the success rate of an arts degree correlates with a high paying job, but that is not the case in this one.

“I want something where there’s always different projects around the corner and get to be creative. There’s a lot of options that range from animation to interior design, but at the same time that’s terrifying of having to depend on an art degree, because you’re basically going into debt not knowing where to go from there and commissioned-based professions are typical,” Johnson said.

The relief in Johnson’s experience with contemplating art school was serious research and discussion with parents about the realistic aspects of a career involved with art. For example, how people live off of commission or how a freelance lifestyle looks like. In order to believe it, Johnson needed examples to reference from by searching careers for artists besides someone who makes videos about drawing and becomes a social media personality, all for the sake of compromising a dream in order to get the closest thing to it.

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By Gabby Plasencia, staff writer

Featured photo by Courtney Nuss on Unsplash